3D printer have made incredible promise about the future manufacture and distribution of goods . Already we can publish out toys , mechanical constituent , and even food product . One team , though , has set it sights on something with even more incredible potential : 3D printed pharmaceutical that can be manufactured anywhere in the world .
The Guardian recently interviewed Professor Lee Croninof the University of Glasgow , who is presently leading a team of 45 university investigator . Among their goal : adapting 3D printing process engineering science to make downloadable pharmaceuticals . The Cronin radical mainly work on creating complex molecules , with an eye toward developing inorganic living . Cronin think that these skills can be applied toward turning 3D printer into drug manufacturing plant life .
The idea is still in its newcomer stages , but a pharmaceutical 3D pressman would be loaded with simple molecules that would tolerate it to well handle carbon paper , hydrogen , and atomic number 8 , plus vegetable oils , paraffin series , and other common pharmaceutic ingredients . Cronin enjoin the Guardian that with a relatively small telephone number of “ inks , ” “ you may make any constitutional molecule . ”

So what are the advantages of printable drugs ? For one matter , it lets you make modular drugs tweak to individuals . Where it might not be worthwhile to manufacture tradition drugs on a wide scale , take pharmaceuticals that are printed off in smaller mint would give people admission to drug that are aligned with their unequalled biochemistry . And there ’s the portability of manufacture ; of a sudden , you ’d be able to manufacture any drug anywhere in the Earth .
I do wonder , though , how printable pharmaceuticals would convert the drug industry from a business and intellectual dimension perspective . Would pharmaceutic companies , instead of filing patents , hold their recipe as closely guard craft secrets ? Would we have to worry about potentially inferior counterfeit drug formulas ? And if the machine could impress controlled nitty-gritty , how would that affect government control of the pressman ?
Still , if Cronin and his team are correct , this engineering could result in incredible medical and human-centered benefits . But even as he dreams enceinte , he remind us that there ’s still a longsighted technical road onward before these “ chemputers ” can become a realism .

3D pressman photo byClive Darra .
The ‘ chemputer ’ that could publish out any drug[The Guardian – Hat tip to Albert ! ]
3D Printers3D printingChemistryDrugsLee CroninpharmaceuticalsScience

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